15 April 2007
Opened in December 2006, the Novotel is one of the newest hotels in Bandung. The design of the hotel echoes the Art Deco period architecture for which Bandung is known, but with some distinctly modern touches, such as the "grass" wall of the coffee shop. The relatively small hotel has a quite small swimming pool, fitness center and full service spa. At the time of my stay, there was only one restaurant, but it appears a second fine dining venue is planed.
The rooms are quite nice, in a rather functional sort of way. In the bathroom, they left out the customary flimsy shower curtain, which I always hate, and replaced it with a large sheet of glass that half-encloses the tub. It seemed like a good idea, but was a little awkward when you wanted to turn on the water to warm up without getting in the tub. Perhaps the best feature of the room was the free internet, which only required that you request a cable from the front desk.
Hotel facilities include swimming pool, spa and restaurant.
Rooms feature air conditioning, hot and cold water, mini-bars, complementary coffee and tea, color televisions (many channels), hair dryer, free internet and IDD telephones.
Pluses: Good location. Reasonable security.
Minuses: Bandung's crazy one-way system can make the hotel a bit tricky to get to by tax, depending on which direction you're coming from.
Rooms at the Novotel Hotel may be booked through Agoda or you can use Hotels Combined to find the best rate from dozens of sites.